"It is [Ukrainian
citizens] that are being shelled, it is them that are being
killed. This is probably what we should be talking about,"
Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, commenting on the Ukrainian
president's latest interview to the BBC.

In the interview, Poroshenko claimed the conflict in Ukraine was
a war with Russia. "This is not a fight with Russian-backed
separatists, this is a real war with Russia," he said.

He referred to the words of two Russian nationals wounded and
captured by a Ukrainian volunteer battalion on Saturday, who said
they were special forces servicemen. The Russian Defense Ministry
confirmed the two individuals had Russian citizenship, and had
been in military training and service, but neither was serving in
the army when they were captured.

The Defense Ministry spokesman called the detention of the two
men a "show staged by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the SBU
[security service of Ukraine]," and passed on a request by
the Russian Veterans Association of Special Forces, urging Kiev
“to stop SBU’s abuse of the wounded to get a favorable
testimony.”

The two Russians, who are now facing terrorism charges, are,
according to Poroshenko, part of an up to 14,000-strong
"Russian force" active in Ukraine: "There are
4,000-14,000 Russian regular army troops in Ukraine at different
points in time," he told the media on Wednesday, RIA
reports. "This is not just Ukrainian information, it is also
from our NATO partners."

Last week, Poroshenko told the German TV channel ZDF there were
11,000 Russian troops in Ukraine. He also claims Moscow is
sending its tanks and other hardware across the border, saying
that shutting off those "supply lines" is the only way Ukraine
can have peace.

This is not the first time Poroshenko has produced what he said
was proof of Russia's involvement. Just before the February
meeting in Minsk that brought about the current peace roadmap, he
showed up at the yearly Munich security conference with several
Russian passports, claiming they were taken from troops captured
in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry asked to see a copy of
the passports to check their authenticity, but got no answer.

Kiev's claims of a Russian presence have been echoed by several
European countries and the US. A "Russian invasion" is described
as a fact by many high-ranking politicians, but Moscow has
refuted every accusation.

Russia points out that the "evidence" Western officials provide
to back up their words is impossible to verify and sometimes
outright fake. An example of this is a recent Twitter post by the
American ambassador in Kiev. In it, he "exposed" a Russian
anti-air missile complex in Ukraine, using a two-year-old photo
from a Moscow region tech show.

In another case, US senator Jim Inhofe claimed there were Russian
tanks in Ukraine, using images from the 2008 South Ossetia war.
It later turned out the photographs had been sent to him by
Ukrainian MPs.

Moscow officials, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, have
repeatedly challenged the West to provide solid proof of the
alleged invasion, saying that with the sophisticated satellite
NATO intelligence systems, it should be easy to detect any
Russian tanks crossing the border. No such proof has been
provided so far.

Russia does admit that its citizens are fighting in Ukraine, but
says they are volunteers who went there on their own initiative,
not members of the army.

The Ukrainian conflict, which is in its second year, has claimed
over 6,200 lives according to UN estimates. Violence has been on
the decline since the signing of the Minsk-2 deal in February.
Brokered by Russia, France and Germany, it is a peace roadmap
elaborating on a September agreements and outlining what should
be done to stabilize Ukraine.

Despite the agreement, though, fighting still simmer in the east
of Ukraine, and little progress has been made toward a long-term
solution.